Toddler on a 10h flight

[oceanob]

Me and my son(3 he'll be nearly 4 by the time of the holiday) are going on holiday in the summer the flight is 10hours long and it's a day flight from morning till afternoon. He is very active and hardly sits down, does have any activities/advice to tell him stay busy on the plane? I've heard to get in the plane last to have the minimum time in the plane

Child might sleep or take a nap...but mine used to stay awake until the immigration queue and baggage collection

My ADHD dc would age three stay awake on the flight and then fall asleep in the immigration line, great fun traveling with twins as a solo passenger!

If you are going to board late with dc and are traveling with others get them to board earlier and put your stuff in the overhead bin above your seats, you don't want it far away from you.

Cut down on your hand luggage and make sure it is easier to open and close and keeps your documents secure.

Don't get a trunki

Take sealed cups for everyone.

Ignore the pp's telling you to drug him and that you shouldn't be taking him at all OP, disgusting attitudes. They clearly haven't ever grown out of the bitchy playground phase and haven't realised they're posting in "holidays" not "AIBU". I second the good advice of tiring him out in the morning and bringing snacks/ surprises to occupy. Enjoy your holiday.

I would also add that it's probably not a great idea to drug your DC on purpose because you simply don't know if they will have some sort of reaction. Imagine trying to explain to anyone- and your own conscience- if they have a massive reaction to something you gave them to make them drowsy. While In The Air.

Much better to be prepared than take risky shortcuts.

Games and films/tv shows downloaded onto a tablet. Drawing, pop-its, books where you have to search for something (Where's SpiderMan? is a big hit here), if he's into cars maybe buy a few hot wheels to wrap up and he can have a new car every few hours. If you start introducing eye spy (with colours instead of letters) then he'll know how to play and that can kill some time. Make sure you take lots of snacks too as I never rely on mine to eat plane food. Maybe a few lollipops to suck on in case their ears hurt.

We usually wear regular comfy clothing but for that age I'd have 2 backup outfits packed (put each fresh outfit in a ziplock bag so in the case of accidents you have a bag to dirty clothes and won't soil the rest of your hand luggage.

Long haul like this is usually staffed with incredibly patient people and as long as you're polite and are actively parenting your kid they'll help you out with what they can.

Good luck!

Definitely! It was popular with fellow expat moms and paediatrician sanctioned when I lived abroad, Benadryl was the drug of choice, but you definitely have to trial it on the ground first. I’ve never used it personally mostly because mine are good travellers but also one of mine reverse cycles on it and becomes a hypo lunatic. Thank goodness we were treating a chlorine rash at home rather than trying that out on a plane is all I’m saying! I reckon more people do it than they let on though, not just in expat circles but the deputy head at DC’s school admitted doing it with her son which I wouldn’t have expected.

If you do take him, for the sanity of your fellow passengers, if you use an iPad, please for the love of all that is holy, take headphones OR he has it on mute

Hearing "let's do that again" and "it's too high, we might fall down" for 10 hours on the way back from our honeymoon nearly drove me demented. I was hoping the damn character in whatever game did fall down, and no, let's not do that again

My last nerve finally snapped when the iPad, still blaring out that damn voice, was rammed into my back as we were waiting to get off the plane, I turned round and said a very clear owwww.

Undeterred, the iPad continued blaring out unchecked, following me all the way to baggage reclaim, where I was able to retreat to the sanctuary of the toilets for a wee 😬

There was a slightly older boy, who was immaculately behaved and sat enraptured by the in flight films, with his headphones on the whole time, I wanted to approach his parents and say how well behaved he was and thank them

I've seen where a blanket is secured to the seat in front using the closed tray. Then draped like a small hammock and the child sits on it to hold it in place and can lie down/curl up on it.

Depending on your airline, you can prebook childrens meals, in addition to a vegetarian or allergen free meals for your flight. We travelled long haul BA/American airlines last summer and my kids got chips and chicken dippers, ice cream and salad for their meals. Also the galley had loads of snacks for you to help yourself. Stretch your legs, and take your kiddo for snacks in the galley!

Walk up and down as much as you both want. Its absurd to restrict a child on a plane. As long as he's not kicking the seats like an MMA fighter, then youre golden.

Have a great time x

For the person in front this might be like someone kicking your seat!

I dont see why - explain?

If you attached something to the seat in front of you and put a child on it, every time the child moved the seat would get tugged. Little chance of sleep for the person in front.

See also the crew will likely ask you to stop it/do up your child’s seatbelt.

Headphones/muted device and buckets of snacks seem to do it for the well behaved kids I’ve been on flights with. Look up a few different ways to help him equalise his ears as different things work for different people.

Have a lovely holiday.

We just got back from Kenya with a daughter the same age. That was 9 hours.

What helped us: Ipad with wireless headphones and a ton of downloads. Loads of colouring stuff. Books. Lolly for take off. Spare clothes. Earplugs in case one of us wanted a snooze! Lots of walking up and down the plane during toilet trips. Endless snacks with very flexible rules!

Was totally fine. Rest of the trip was tougher!

@Flossflower

Ok I see what you're saying, but if the child is asleep there isn't going to be much tugging.

Seatbelt can still be on.

It will be fine, we flew to Florida with Virgin, when our youngest son was about that age, the cabin crew took a shine to him, he was in the galley with them, hardly saw him! His first flight, was really easy, we took little gifts to unwrap, tv series ours sons liked on iPhone etc. on the return flight, they slept right through, wish I did. Have a great holiday, try not too worry.

IME with my Dcs in the bassinet option every time there was even a tiny amount of bloody turbulence i had to take them out (thus waking them) and put them in their seats with a seatbelt.

It was the very opposite of restful.

We'll have to disagree about the seat belt. Travelling 12 hrs with my grandkid, they slept curled up on their seat with the seat belt on all the time.

Was that to me? because I agree that they would need a seatbelt all the time. But in a sort of makeshift hammock situation they might be asked to be put back in their seats by the FA is what I meant.

Because the bassinet (which is attached to certain seats and part of the plane infrastructure) this is what happened to us. Every time there was turbulence I had to take them out of the bassinet (which was attached) and put them in a seat with a seatbelt. It was a mighty PITA.

They are still in their seat though!

Just wanted to follow up on this.... how did it go? I have to do the same with my 3.5 year old, I can't leave her home as I need to go see my ill father who is a 10 hour flight away and am doing it solo parenting